wireless

The expansion of NUwave in the residence halls continues after the big push during Summer 2014. The overall goal is for ALL residence halls to have 100% NUwave access by September 2015 Move-In.

At this time, 19 out of 35 halls have 100% wireless coverage, including Northeastern’s newest building, East Village. The remaining buildings are scheduled for work between now and mid-August 2015. As the project progresses, we are updating the building status chart and project page for Phase II. Bookmark this page to see which building is next.

In order to expedite wireless access, work is being done in occupied residence halls. ITS and Facilities are coordinating on the necessary installation and patch work. While this is a slight inconvenience for those living in the halls, this method allows us to provide wireless access sooner than if we had to wait until a building was closed to upgrade it. Students are notified in advance that work will be happening in their building. All personnel doing this work will be escorted by a Northeastern staff member to ensure security, and staff will knock prior to entering your apartment.

Once the installations are complete and the wireless units tested, NUwave is turned on and students in that building will be notified. This is same NUwave network as exists everywhere else on campus, so there’s no new network to find and set up.

As buildings are transitioned from a “Bring Your Own Router” building to a 100% NUwave building, personally-owned routers will need to be turned off and removed. The existence of additional (non-NUwave) wireless access points interferes with the wireless signal – degrading the service for both NUwave and the rogue access point.

Want to know when YOUR building will be upgraded? Of course you do. Check out the building status chart and project page for Phase II – that is where to find the official word. Please note that this project requires lots of coordination with departments across campus, so dates may change.

We thank you for your patience while we do this work and we look forward to offering you NUwave in additional locations.

For all of you who were on co-op, abroad, or just paying more attention to the “free Office” part of September’s newsletter, here’s some of the also-important stuff you might have missed.

Microsoft Office for Free

If you don’t already have the latest version of Office, sign in to the myNEU portal, find the Microsoft Student Advantage section under Self Service, and get a free copy for Mac or Windows through Northeastern’s partnership. Because Student Advantage is part of Office 365, you’ll also have access to the expanding number of Microsoft mobile apps and whatever version of Office comes out next.

The one hitch: To download, install and use any of this, you have to sign in with the special Office 365 username that Northeastern has set up for you. So check out the details here.

Printers Near You

Your assignment is due. Your professor wants a hard copy. You don’t have to go to the library, or to wish that you had class in a building with a printer you could grab just in time – now there are swipe-to-print locations in several residence halls and other new locations around campus.

Learn more about the Northeastern Printing Plan and the printer locations here.

Go Wireless at Home

Last year, in partnership with Housing and Residential Life, ITS expanded NUwave wireless network access within 17 university-owned residence halls. The goal this year is to have full access in all residence halls for the start of the 2015-2016 academic year. Learn more about that here.

For those of you in a hall that does not yet have NUwave, if you want to keep on top of when you’re getting it, bookmark this link – that chart is updated weekly.

Starting Fall 2014, ITS will continue the expansion of wireless access within university-owned residence halls, achieving 100 percent coverage for the start of the 2015-2016 academic year. Over the summer, in partnership with Housing and Residential Life, ITS added secure NUwave wireless network access to 17 halls. Below is a list of the buildings slated for the second and final phase of the expansion, to be completed by Move-In in late August/September 2015. This list will be updated weekly during the project. The full list of buildings that have 100% NUwave coverage can be found here.

Work will be completed in two stages – first wires are pulled and new wireless access points are installed, then Facilities returns within a few weeks to patch and paint the impacted installation areas. NUwave can be accessed using your myNEU username and password. Students will also have access to ResNet, the wired network, for high speed internet access. Once a building has NUwave up and running you will not be able to use a router to create your own wireless network.

Hall

Status

Notes

10 Coventry

Planned

Work scheduled to start March 30, 2015

106 St. Stephens Street

Planned

Work scheduled for Summer 2015

110 St. Stephens Street

Planned

Work scheduled for Summer 2015

116 St. Stephens Street

Planned

Work scheduled for Summer 2015

319 Fairwood Apt

Planned

Work scheduled for Summer 2015

337 Fairwood Apt

Planned

Work scheduled for Summer 2015

Burstein Hall

Planned

Work scheduled for Summer 2015

Davenport Commons A

In Progress

Work in progress

Davenport Commons B

In Progress

Work in progress

East Village

Live

Personal routers are banned

Levine Hall (122 St. Stephens Street)

Planned

Work scheduled for Summer 2015

West Village A (North & South)

Live

Personal routers are banned

West Village B

In Progress

Work in progress

West Village E

Planned

Work scheduled for Summer 2015

West Village F

In Progress

Work in progress

West Village G

Live

Personal routers are banned

West Village H

Live

Personal routers are banned

Willis Hall

Live

Personal routers are banned

Updated 3/19/2015

Details about the installation process

In order to provide NUwave access within residence halls, ITS must install new wireless access points throughout each building. The location of these wireless access points will include hallways, common rooms and bedrooms – exact locations will vary based on the building. If your apartment is going to be directly impacted, Housing and Residential Life will reach out to you as the project moves forward. Work will only occur between 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. during weekdays (Monday-Friday) and residents do not need to be present at the time of the installation. During the conversion, Facilities will follow up all ITS work to patch and paint any surfaces affected by the installation process. All personnel doing this work will be escorted by a Northeastern staff member to ensure security. Staff will knock prior to entering an apartment.

Over the summer, in partnership with Housing and Residential Life, ITS expanded NUwave wireless network access within 17 university-owned residence halls. These buildings offer NUwave, our secure wireless network, throughout the entire building. Students still have access to ResNet, the wired network, for high speed Internet access, which we recommend using for streaming and other high-bandwidth uses.

ITS aims to have all residential buildings be 100% NUwave buildings by Fall 2015. See more about connecting in non-NUwave buildings below.

NUwave Residence Halls

NUwave can be accessed using your myNEU username and password. Students assigned to these buildings are NOT allowed to set up a personal router, or other wireless access point, as it violates the AUP, degrades the wireless signal for everyone and is a security issue.

The following buildings now have 100% NUwave coverage:

144 Hemenway

407 Huntington Ave

768 Columbus Place

780 Columbus Ave

International Village

Kennedy Hall

Kerr Hall

Light Hall

Loftman Hall/153 Hemenway

Melvin Hall

Rubenstein Hall

Smith Hall

Speare Hall

Stetson East

Stetson West

White Hall

West Village C

ITS has also installed wireless access points outside in the Speare, Stetson West, Stetson East, White and West Village quads, so you can now work outside on a nice day.

NUwave is now available through exteriors wireless access points in certain quads around campus, like this one at White Hall.

New wireless device network – NURes-device
Residents in these buildings also have access to a new wireless device network – NURes-device. This network is specifically for devices that do not support 802.1x and are not able to connect to NUwave. You should connect your computer to NUwave. NURes-device is not encrypted, so it is not a secure network. Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Kindle (first generation), Nintendo 3DS, and Roku devices have successfully connected to NURes-device. Other similar devices may connect but have not been tested. Wireless printers are not supported, and ITS discourages the use of wireless printers in residence halls over a wireless network, as that printer can be used by anyone in the area.

Bring Your Own Router Buildings

ITS aims to have all residential buildings be 100% NUwave buildings by Fall 2015. In the meantime, the following buildings allow the set up of personal routers to establish wireless access:

In May, ITS enabled registration requirements and a time limit for NUwave-guest access on the Boston campus. After work this summer, almost all of Northeastern University – including the graduate campuses in Seattle and Charlotte, and all Boston-area campuses and facilities – is using the new guest wireless system. All work will be completed in next month.

Individuals wishing to use the guest wireless network will need to register through a new guest wireless portal page, similar to those used by coffee shops and airports. These changes provide a greater level of security for our campus networks by limiting Internet access to identified guests visiting Northeastern for a certain period of time.

Registration Details
Individuals wishing to use guest wireless will need to select the wireless network NUwave-guest, and open a browser. Guests will then be automatically redirected to the guest wireless portal registration page where they will need to provide their name, cell phone number and email address. Some Northeastern locations require an access code, which is available on-site. Guests will receive a text message containing a username and password that can be entered into the guest portal login page for network access, on up to three devices.

There is an eight-hour time limit for NUwave-guest. Once the allotted time expires, guests wishing to continue to use the guest wireless network will be required to re-register in order to receive a new access code.

Find your laptop connecting to NUwave-guest and not NUwave? There is a way to modify your computer’s wifi preferences so that you are always connected to Northeastern’s secure wireless network.

Remember if you have myNEU credentials you should only be using NUwave as your wifi network. NUwave-guest is not secured, offers limited access and is intended for guests only.

For Windows 7 users – Lifehacker has a great video and post about configuring your PC to find the preferred wireless network whenever it is available. Be sure to click the link at the bottom for the How-To Geek post, which features step-by-step screenshots.

For Mac users – To set your network priorities wireless network options, click the wireless icon on the menu bar and select Open Network Preferences. In the Wifi section, click the Advanced… button on the bottom right.

Drag networks into the order you prefer (top = #1 priority). This is also a good time to delete any unused networks that you may have accessed at a random Starbucks or Logan Airport.